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The nymphs of mount Ida, to whom Cybele had confided her son, educated him with great care; but his cries being likely to call the attention of Saturn and Titan, the priests invented a dance accompanied with noise, called the Dactyl, in which they interchanged blows on steel bucklers. His nourishment was received from a goat, who was afterwards placed among the heavenly constellations, having given his skin to form a shield, and one of his horns, which was presented to the nymphs, and named the Horn of Plenty. As Jupiter emerged from infancy, we have seen he had to strive with the Titans, who disputed with him the right to reign in Heaven.

The first of their feats was to heap mountain on mountain in order to scale the walls of Heaven; they then threw fragments of rocks and burning trees against "high Olympus."

"But vainly came Typhæus on,

And vainly huge Porphyrion,

Fierce Rhœtus of the vengeful stroke,

And Minias strong as mountain oak,

With bold Encelædas, to heaven who strove

To dart the trees, uprooted, from the grove:

For weak their might against the shield

Which Pallas' matchless arm did wield;

While quick against the giant foes

Juno, and ardent Vulcan, rose;

And to the fight the young Apollo sped,

Glittering afar with bows and arrows dread,

Who bathing in Castalian dew,

His tresses loose of golden hue,

Rejoicing in his youth is seen

Amid the Lycian valleys green,

Or in the Delian groves will sport oftwhile

Amid the flowers that deck his native isle."

Horace.

The Gods at first defended themselves with great courage, but at the appearance of the hundred-headed Typhon, all, save Bacchus, sought safety in flight, and hid themselves in Egypt, where they obtained refuge under various forms: from the different disguises they then assumed, may be traced the worship rendered by the Egyptians to both animals and vegetables.

Typhon, who thus, by his mere appearance, seemed to turn the tide of war, is thus described:

————————"Typhon, whose hands

Of strength are fitted to tremendous deeds;

And indefatigable are the feet

Of the strong God: and from his shoulders rise

A hundred snaky heads of dragon growth."

Hesiod.

Notwithstanding the dire appearance of this monster, Bacchus fought bravely against the foes of Heaven, and took the form of a Lion, while animated by the cries of Jupiter, who shouted "Courage, courage!" his bravery turned the tide of war.

"And now the murmur of incitement flies,

All ranged in martial order, through the skies;

Here Jove above the rest conspicuous shined,

In valour equal to his strength his mind;

Erect and dauntless see the thunderer stand,

The bolts red hissing from his vengeful hand;

He walks majestic round the starry frame;

And now the lightnings from Olympus flame.

The earth wide blazes with the fires of Jove,

Nor the flash spares the verdure of the grove."

Hesiod.

The invaders, at length, were overthrown, and crushed beneath the mountains which they themselves had prepared to execute their vengeance on Jupiter. Many times, though vainly, the Titans sought to avenge their defeat; and Olympus, from this time, was only troubled by internal dissensions.

———————"The bruised Titans mourned

Within a den where no insulting light

Could glimmer on their tears; where their own groans

They felt, but heard not; hard flint they sat upon,

Couches of rugged stone and slaty ridge,

Stubborned with iron.

Cœus and Gyges and Briareus,

With many more, the brawniest in assault,

Were pent in regions of laborious breath;

Dungeoned in opague element to keep

Their clenched teeth still clenched, and all their limbs

Locked up like veins of metal cramped and screwed:

Without a motion save of their big hearts,

Heaving in pain."

Keats' Hyperion.

After his victory, Jupiter, who had driven Saturn from Heaven, and was in consequence its undisputed king, espoused Juno his sister. The commencement of their union was a happy one, and was called the age of silver, being an era of virtue, less pure, however, than that of the age of gold.

"But when good Saturn banished from above

Was driven to hell, the world was under Jove.

Succeeding times a silver age behold,

Excelling brass, but more excelled by gold;

Then summer, autumn, winter did appear,

And spring was but a season of the year.

The sun his annual course obliquely made,

Good days contracted and enlarged the bad.

Then air with sultry heat began to glow;

The wings of winds were clogged with ice and snow;

And shivering mortals into houses driven,

Sought shelter from the inclemency of heaven.

Those houses then were caves or homely sheds,

With twining osiers fenced, and moss their beds:

Then ploughs for seed the fruitful farrows broke,

And oxen laboured first beneath the yoke."

Ovid.

Nor was crime long in making its appearance. Hyacon, King of Arcadia, violated all the laws of hospitality by the massacre of his guests. He had the cruelty to offer up to Jupiter, in one of the high festivals, the members of a slave, as an offering to the God. But his punishment was as swift as his conduct had been atrocious: his palace was reduced to ashes, and his form was changed into that of a wolf. From this Jupiter took the name which denotes him an avenger of the laws of hospitality.

Jupiter is also distinguished by the name of Ammon from the following circumstance:

Bacchus being in the midst of the sands of Arabia, was seized with a thirst so burning, that he was reduced to long even for a drop of water. Jupiter presented himself to him under the form of a battering-ram, and striking the earth, caused the grateful liquid to spring forth in abundance. Bacchus, to commemorate the deed, erected a temple to his benefactor in the deserts of Lybia, under the name of Jupiter Ammon, i.e.—sandy.

By this time mankind had owed their creation to the King of the Gods. Prometheus, grand-son of Uranus, having deceived Jupiter, he was punished by being withheld from the element of fire; and to enrage his sovereign, he formed a being of clay, of workmanship so exquisite, that it scarcely seemed to need life to add to its beauty, and to complete his performance, assisted by Minerva, he stole fire from the chariot of the sun, wherewith to animate his image.

Enraged at this daring, Jupiter had him conveyed to Mount Caucasus, where being chained to the rock, a vulture preyed upon his entrails, which grew as fast as they were devoured, thus subjecting him to a never dying torture.

—————————"Awful sufferer!

To thee unwilling, most unwillingly

I come, by the great Father's will driven down,

To execute a doom of new revenge.

Alas! I pity thee, and hate myself,

That I can do no more: aye from thy sight

Returning, for a season, heaven seems hell,

So thy worn form pursues me night and day,

Smiling reproach. Wise art thou, firm and good,

But vainly wouldst stand forth alone in strife

Against the Omnipotent: as yon clear lamps,

That measure and divide the weary years

From which there is no refuge, long have taught

And long must teach. Even now the Torturer arms

With the strange might of unimagined pains

The powers who scheme slow agonies in hell;

And my commission is to lead them here,

Or what more subtle, foul, or savage fiends

People the abyss, and leave them to their task.

Oh that we might be spared: I to inflict,

And thou to suffer! once more answer me:

Thou knowest not the period of Jove's power?

Prometheus. I know but this, that it must come.

First Fury. Prometheus!

Second Fury. Immortal Titan!

Third Fury. Champion of Heaven's slaves!

Pro. He whom some dreadful voice invokes is here,

Prometheus, the chained Titan. Horrible forms,

Whence and what are ye? Never yet there came

Phantasms so foul thro' monster-teeming hell,

From the all miscreative brain of Jove;

Whilst I behold such execrable shapes,

Methinks I grow like what I contemplate,

And laugh and stare in loathsome sympathy.

First Fury. We are ministers of pain, and fear,

And disappointment, and mistrust, and hate,

And clinging crime; and, as lean dogs pursue

Thro' wood and lake some struck and sobbing fawn,

We track all things that weep, and bleed, and live,

When the great king betrays them to our will.

Pro. Oh! many fearful natures in one name,

I know ye; and these lakes and echoes know

The darkness and the clangour of your wings.

But why more hideous than your loathed selves

Gather ye up in legions from the deep!

Second Fury. We knew not that: Sisters, rejoice! rejoice!

Pro. Can aught exult in its deformity?

Second Fury. The beauty of delight makes lovers glad,

Gazing on one another: so are we,

As from the rose which the pale priestess kneels

To gather for a festal crown of flowers,

The aërial crimson falls, flushing her cheek,

So from our victim's destined agony,

The shade which is our form invests us round;

Else we are shapeless as our mother night.

Pro. I laugh your power, and his who sent you here,

To lowest scorn. Pour forth the cup of pain.

First Fury. Thou thinkest we will rend thee bone from bone,

And nerve from nerve, working like fire within!

Pro. Pain is my element, as hate is thine;

Ye rend me now; I care not.

Second Fury. Dost imagine

We will but laugh into thy lidless eyes?

Pro. I weigh not what ye do, but what ye suffer,

Being evil. Cruel is the power which called

You, or aught else so wretched into light!

Third Fury. Thou think'st we will live through thee one by one,

Like animal life, and though we can obscure not

The soul which burns within, that we will dwell

Beside it, like a vain, loud multitude,

Vexing the self-content of wisest men:

That we will be dread thought beneath thy brain,

And foul desire round thine astonished heart,

And blood within thy labyrinthine veins,

Crawling like agony.

Pro. Why use me thus now,

Yet am I king over my self's rule,

The torturing and conflicting throes within,

As Jove rules you when hell grows mutinous."

Shelley.

This provoked the vengeance of Jupiter, and he ordered Vulcan to create a female, whom they called Pandora. All the Gods vied in making presents. Venus gave her beauty, and the art of pleasing; Apollo taught her to sing; Mercury instructed her in eloquence; Minerva gave her the most rich and splendid ornaments. From these valuable presents which she received from the Gods, the woman was called Pandora, which intimates that she had received every necessary gift. Jupiter, after this, gave her a beautiful box, which she was ordered to present to the man who married her; and by the command of the god, Mercury conducted her to Prometheus. The artful mortal was sensible of the deceit; and as he had always distrusted Jupiter, he sent away Pandora without suffering himself to be captivated by her charms.

"He spoke, and told to Mulciber his will,

And smiling bade him his command fulfil;

To use his greatest art, his nicest care,

To frame a creature exquisitely fair;

To temper well the clay with water, then

To add the vigour and the voice of men;

To let her first in virgin lustre shine,

In form a goddess, with a bloom divine;

And next the sire demands Minerva's aid,

In all her various skill to train the maid

Bids her the secrets of the loom impart,

To cast a curious thread with happy heart;

And golden Venus was to teach the fair

The wiles of love, and to improve her air;

And then in awful majesty to shed

A thousand graceful charms around her head.

Next Hermes, artful god, must form her mind,

One day to torture, and the next be kind:

With manners all deceitful, and her tongue

Fraught with abuse, and with detraction hung;

Jove gave the mandate, and the gods obeyed:

First Vulcan formed of earth the blushing maid;

Minerva next performed the task assigned,

With every female art adorned her mind;

To her the Beauties and the Graces join,

Around her person, lo! the diamonds shine.

To deck her brows the fair tressed seasons bring,

A garland breathing all the sweets of spring:

Each present Pallas gives its proper place,

And adds to every ornament a grace!

Next Hermes taught the fair the heart to move

With all the false alluring arts of love,

Her manners all deceitful, and her tongue

With falsehoods fruitful, and detraction hung;

The finished maid the gods Pandora call,

Because a tribute she received from all;

And thus 'twas Jove's command the sex began

A lovely mischief to the soul of man!

Within her hand the nymph a casket bears,

Full of diseases and corroding cares:

Which opened, they to taint the world begin

And Hope alone remained entire within!

Such was the fatal present from above,

And such the will of cloud compelling Jove:

And now unnumbered woes o'er mortals reign

Alike infected is the land and main;

O'er human race distempers silent stray,

And multiply their strength by night and day!

'Twas Jove's decree they should in silence rove,

For who is able to contend with Jove?"

Hesiod.

When the box was opened, there issued from it a multitude of evils and distempers, which dispersed themselves over the world, and which from that fatal moment have never ceased to afflict the human race. Hope alone remained at the bottom, and that only has the power of easing the labours of man, and rendering his troubles less painful.

"But thou, oh! Hope, with eyes so fair,

What was thy delighted measure?

Still it whispered promised pleasure,

And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail!

Still would her touch the strain prolong,

And from the rocks, the woods, the vale,

She called on Echo still throughout the song;

And where her sweetest theme she chose

A soft responsive voice was heard at every close,

And Hope, enchanted, smiled and waved her golden hair!"

Collins.